the well INDIA. Question of how far the establish ans, as a con was calculated to lead to the caste. the question from the general tendency of foreign conquest to create a caste when they had become a conquering power, and HISTORY OF established Aryan empires at Delhi, Oude, Tirhút, PART I. and Bahar, under the ancient names of Bhárata, Kosala, Mithila, and Magadhá. The question accordingly remains for consideration of how far circumstances which attend the invasion of a populated country by a band of foreign emigrants, introduction of and the subsequent establishment of the settlers as a dominant and imperial power, are calculated to lead to the introduction of caste, and the perpetuation of a caste system for ages afterwards. This Importance of question is of more general importance than is generally supposed. The tendency of all foreign conquests is to create a caste feeling between the conquerors and the conquered; and this feeling becomes intensified when the difference is one not merely of political relations, but of colour, language, and religion. In the progress of another century, for instance, from the present date, the old caste antagonism amongst the Hindús may in some measure have passed away; but in its place there will be a caste feeling between Europeans, East Indians, and Natives, altogether different from that exclusiveness in different ranks of society which prevails amongst European nations. feeling. far the elements be found in the Many of the difficulties connected with this in- Question of how teresting subject of inquiry will be cleared up, as of an opposition far as the Hindús are concerned, by means of the Rig-Veda." evidence furnished by the Mahá Bhárata and Rámáyana. But still it appears necessary for the continuous identification of the Aryan people, and their separation from the Turanian populations by whom they were apparently surrounded, and with whom they must to some extent have intermingled, to INDIA. HISTORY OF ascertain which of the castes had an Aryan origin, and how far the elements of an opposition of classes is to be found in the Rig-Veda. PART I. Four castes existing in the In the Brahmanic age the great body of the Brahmanic age. people were divided into four castes, as follows:1st, Bráhmans, or priests; sometimes called preceptors. Brahmans. Kshatriyas, or Vaisyas. Súdras. Outcastes and slaves. Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and guished from the Súdras by the designation of "twice born." 2nd, Kshatriyas, or soldiers; also called Rajas, or sovereigns. 3rd, Vaisyas, or merchants and farmers. 4th, Súdras, a servile class who tilled the soil. Below these was a nondescript population who were treated as outcastes, and who appear as the slaves of the Súdras. Of the four castes, the three Vaisyas distin- first mentioned are distinguished from the fourth thread, and the caste in a very particular manner. The Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, are each invested at a certain age with the sacred thread, from which circumstance they are entitled the "twice born," to distinguish them from the Súdras, who are not permitted to wear the thread. This line of demarcation between the three twice-born castes and the Súdras is far broader according to caste ideas than that between the Bráhman and the Kshatriya, or the Hypothesis that Kshatriya and the Vaisya. Accordingly the most plausible conjecture appears to be that the three twicethe Rigveda, born castes may be identified with the descendants of the Aryans of the Rig-Veda; whilst the Súdras, who form the mass of the population, may be regarded as the descendants of a Turanian people, who settled in India ages before the Aryans, and at some remote period contemporary perhaps with the earliest Antiquity of the Egyptian dynasties. As to the outcastes, known in the south of India by the general name of Pariahs, they the three twice born castes are descendants of Aryans of and that the Sú dras are a pre Aryan people. Pariahs, or out castes. INDIA. PART I. probably were the descendants of an aboriginal HISTORY OF people possessing a still more remote antiquity, who were originally conquered by the Súdras, and of whom some may have escaped to the hills and become the ancestors of the existing hill tribes. classes of worshippers indi Rig-Veda. and religious tors of the Bráh Now although no caste system appears in the Rig- Three distinct Veda, the hymns certainly present glimpses of three eated in the distinct classes of worshippers. One class, the most 1st, A peaceful prominent of all, comprised a people who evidently class, the ances possessed strong religious instincts. They prayed in mans. earnest language to primitive deities for such simple benefits as colonists in a new country might be expected to crave; namely, seasonable rains, abundant harvests, prolific cattle, and plenty of children. They were certainly a peaceful community, and appear to have been altogether indisposed for war, for they prayed not for victory but for protection. They do not even seem to have sacrificed to any god of war, unless Indra may be regarded as such; but their offerings were exclusively made to what might be termed family or domestic deities, who were supposed to supply the daily wants of a simple but contemplative people. Moreover, with the exception of the soma wine, which was especially quaffed by Indra, there was nothing of an orgiastic character in their worship. They invoked the gods, and propitiated them with such bloodless offerings as butter, curds, and milk. Again, whilst they implored the gods for protection, and lauded their exploits against robbers, cattle-lifters, and other enemies, they manifested no warlike spirit, no direct aspiration for revenge, such as would find expression in the prayers or hymns of a people devoted to deeds of arms. Indeed, it might almost be said that the flow of religious feeling which INDIA. PART I. HISTORY OF runs through the greater number of the Vedic hymns, is altogether at variance with that exultant delight in blood and slaughter which is generally manifested in the ballads of a warlike people. Altogether the hymns of the Rig-Veda, as far as peaceful pursuits are concerned, are of such a character that it is not difficult to identify the people who gave them utterance with the ancestors of the later Bráhmans. 2nd, A military class, the ances tors of the Kshatriyas. A second class of Vedic worshippers adopted a different order of religious rites, namely, the sacrifice of animals; thus they immolated horses to Indra and the Sun, and Indra is also said to have delighted in Marks of differ- roasted buffalo. This difference in sacrifice involved the peaceful and a difference of food, and in all probability a difference ence between the military class. of avocation. A peace-loving community might be contented with a milk and vegetable diet; but a military community, to whom physical strength was of the highest importance, would delight in flesh meat, and such they would offer to the gods. It is a significant fact that the allusions to animal sacrifice are by no means frequent in the hymns of the RigVeda, whilst they find full expression in the ritualistic works of a later age, in which the Bráhmans Increased preva are represented as the sacrificers.46 From this it sacrifices when may be inferred that so long as the Vedic Aryans came a conquer were dwelling in the Punjab, the priestly orders lence of animal the Aryans be ing power. still retained their bloodless sacrifices; but as they advanced further and further into the interior, and depended more and more upon their military protectors, so they found it more and more necessary to propitiate the warriors by the worship of their gods and the performance of animal sacrifices. The 46 See especially the Brahmanam Aitareya. Haug's translation. military community thus referred to may therefore HISTORY OF be identified with the ancestors of the Kshatriyas. INDIA. PART I. tile class, the an Vaisyas. The third class of worshippers cannot be traced 3rd, A mercanquite so easily, but still glimpses are to be obtained cestors of the of a mercantile and maritime community, who especially worshipped Varuna, the god of the ocean, and who may be identified with the Vaisyas. Here it may be remarked that no opposition seems ever to have arisen between the Vaisyas and the other two castes, like that which broke out between the Bráhmans and the Kshatriyas. Indeed the wealth of the Vaisyas rendered them at a later period of considerable influence, inasmuch as they employed Bráhmans to perform sacrifices, and took Kshatriyas into their pay as soldiers and guards. ference between the Brahmans and the Ksha triyas. The early separation of the Bráhmans from the Origin of the dif Kshatriyas, the priest from the soldier, is a question of much historical importance, and will be further discussed hereafter. For the present it may be sufficient to remark that the separation does not appear to have originated so much in those superstitious caste ideas which prevailed at a subsequent period, as in the difference of avocations, sentiments, and aspirations. What the priest was to the feudal Chieftain of the Dark Ages, such was the Bráhman to the Kshatriya. The Bráhman subsisted upon a diet of Characteristics milk and vegetables, and spent his time in tending his flocks and herds, in composing hymns to the different deities, and in speculative inquiries as to the origin of man and the universe, and their relationship to the Supreme Being. As to the history of the past, apart from religion, he cared nothing, excepting so far as he might succeed in converting ancient traditions into a vehicle for religious teaching. Ac of the Bráh mans. |